How to Become a Better Task Manager
Perhaps the most fundamental thing about becoming a better task manager is understanding what a task isand what it represents. Tasks are best thought of as the things that join our plans to action. They are the realization of your planning.
Tasks therefore need to be plannedand, indeed, task management is probably the most important part of planning. This is because task management is how you ensure you have enough time, and the resources, to actually complete the tasks.
The Benefit of Optimal Task Management
It usually becomes obvious when task management has become an absolute necessity. And this is simply because it becomes very obvious – very quickly – that it is actually impossible to get everything done without carefully scheduling it. And if nothing else, it will open up free time considerably.
Next Level Daily, a company out of Redding, California producing high performance planners, say that these are well named.Even if task management doesn’t seem absolutely necessary, it is the only way to achieve high performance at whatever long term endeavor you are engaged in (be that career goals, managing personal life, or trying to give yourself more free time to combat stress and perform better when you are working).
What Makes a Good Task Manager?
Ultimately, a good task manager is identified by the skills they possess. The goal is to complete tasks when they are a scheduled and to a high standard. These two things are closely related.
Without planning a task properly, you often cannot do it properly. The reasons for this are simple – you run out of time, you do not have the requisite resources when you come round to the task, and you rush or perform it toa substandard level. If you have scheduled the task, on the other hand, you should have ample time to complete it – and you should have ample time to prepare for it. This is what makes a top task manager.
Tips to Become a Better Task Manager
But what are the skills of a good task manager, in more detail? The best way to ascertain this is to look at some of the most fundamental tips for becoming a good task manager.
Begin with the Small Tasks
And we mean begin to plan the smaller tasks first. The reason for this is that it can be done more easily and that these tasks are often less important and therefore more flexible in the schedule.
Doing this first will also give you a clear view of how much time you have for the more important tasks. Furthermore, many long term scheduling goals are themselves made up of smaller tsks incrementally moving towards the goal. Therefore, you need to plan these first.
Focus on One at a Time
Naturally, all tasks are done “one at a time” over a certain time period. You are always working on one task at any given second. Nonetheless, sometimes you can cram several tasks into a day, or even an afternoon. This gets closer to what we mean by multi-tasking. Focusingon one at a time is certainly the preferable option.
Respond to Changes
Responding wellto changes is essential for good task management. In practice, this means ensuring your schedule is not too rigid and that it can accommodate sudden tasks or changes to existing ones. With smaller tasks, this is even likely to happen and so having an appropriately flexible schedule is vital.
Planning tasks well, in the end, means doing them better. And that takes the skills and diligence of a top task manager.
